The Writing in Nature Workshop Series 2012-2013

Join us for our third year of writing workshop offerings. These workshops provide you with the opportunity to study under some of the most talented and spirited writers of our region and far beyond. Each year brings new ideas and new approaches to honing your writing skills. While the primary focus for these workshops is writing in, about, and for nature, the tools and skills you develop carry over into all kinds of writing, regardless of the particular muse.

Previous Workshops

The Art & Science of Nature Journaling for the Observant Writer Instructor: Peter C. Stone Date: November 18, 2012. Sunday 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
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In this day-long inquiry-, object-, and place-based workshop, we will be combining visual and literary disciplines, including journaling for daily living, and learn ways to foster a deepened sense of connection with the environments in which we live. Along the shores of Apalachee Bay we will explore methods for cultivating inspiration; finding your story-finding your voice through several writing exercises; practice visual thinking strategies, including observing how we observe, intuition, inference, literal and visual expression, objectivity/subjectivity, and the language of symbolism in living systems. In conceiving and developing a new writing project, we will honor and delight the observer and writer in all of us.

Author, educator, artist (with over fifty solo exhibitions at galleries and museums in the United States, Canada, and England), Peter C. Stone's books and paintings explore the evolutionary wisdom and interconnectedness of endangered creatures, cultures, and ecosystems. His work includes curriculum design, graduate level content institutes for educators, lower, middle, and upper school workshops; and Arts and Sciences advisor for the Connecting Oceans Academy/ECHO Program with the Ocean Explorium at New Bedford Seaport and the UMass Dartmouth Center for University School and Community Partnerships. He also serves on the Art and Nature Committee of the Peabody Essex Museum

Visit Peter Stone's website

Thinking Water: Our Essential Element & How to Craft Its Story. Instructor: Dr. Diane Roberts, FSU Depart. of English. Date: October 1, 2011. Saturday 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM Get more We are born of water. Most of the earth is water. Most of a human body is water. Yet Americans now take water for granted at the same time that the United Nations (along with many scientists) warn that the wars of the 21st century will likely be fought over water. In this workshop, we will read pieces on water by Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats, Marjorie Stoneman Douglass and others, do some writing exercises and discuss how to write about water, advocate for water and tell the story of our waters with a view to deepen understanding of water economics, water science and water politics.

Nature Writing Workshop - Instructor: Susan Cerulean. Date: November 6, 2011. Sunday, 9:00-4:00 PM, The practice of nature writing-whether memoir or poem, journal entry or essay-begins with patient, informed observation of a particular place. In this day-long workshop, we invite you to take time away from the distractions of daily life, and enter into the larger reality of the land and waters that support us. Under the shady pines along the beach of Apalachee Bay we will practice informal writing exercises to sharpen skills of observation; study the art and importance of concrete detail; learn to keep a nature journal, and why it's important at this time on the planet; consider being a voice (jubilant? indignant? curious? reverent?) for this place we live in and love.